This is the second view I found pretty interesting on the KOLR 10 website. This was a response to all the bickering and I think it just sums up how a lot of us feel about the whole mess. Something else I found really amazing is just on this one topic's posting, it has been view 9571 times! has had 196 posts! and is on it's 14th page! The topic is "Reeds Spring Teacher" and while there are many other topics about this fiasco, this one just seems to not die. There is a reason for that and again, I think the following reply really sums it all up:

I am so blown away by the people who continue to try to hang Mr. Collins. For the love of Pete, will you quit beating a dead horse and put your energies towards better things? Mr. Collins has opted to retire. End of story.

For those of you who love him, let him retire in peace, but continue to make a difference, just as he would. He will always be a part of us, even if he isn’t at the school. You can't keep a good teacher or a good person like him down. Have faith that he will continue to be a big part of our community. That is just Mr. Collins. Let him enjoy his retirement. He'll always be around because he loves our community that much.

I am constantly reminded of him, especially this time of year when I am driving down the road. You go by the high school and see all of the trees with new leaves forming and see the blossoms on the Bradford Pear trees. Then you head towards Kimberling City. Notice the trees like the Redbuds. He and his kids have done those things and more! That's just a little bit of the beauty he has been a part of. I know there are a lot of you out there who have more to add to this. I'd love to hear it! Not only does he have a legacy with our kids, but with the community! We're all affected by him one way or another.

For those of you who don't like Mr. Collins or are indifferent, hey, he's left the school. No matter how it happened, you have your wish granted. We aren't happy about it and if you bring it up, we'll be quick to jump to his defense. But how about this idea? WE ALL KNOW something is wrong with the school system. If you don't agree with that, you just want to have something to gripe about. Some people are hind-end sniffing, two-faced back-stabbers who talk out of one end and then blow foul out the other end. Some of those people (and you know who you are), are "holier-than-thou", "I'm perfect and you should be like me", tunnel-vision hypocrites who have Mr. Collins' head on a guillotine, while cussing like sailors yourselves when you think no one of importance is listening. To you, let Mr. Collins retire in peace and quit wasting the breath the good Lord gave you. Put those energies to some good use like trying to do something positive at the school. You will not get us to change our minds about Mr. Collins. You are a minority and what you think, however funny and amusing we find it, makes no difference to us, just as we make no difference to the outcome of your attitudes and decisions. I'm just saying, it's time to get positive with something else.

The school board and administration are the source of the problem and something needs to be done about it. We've been sleeping for way too long and allowing them to have their own little agendas, which haven't included what is best for our children. Not one child chose to come into this world. We, as parents made the decision to bring them into the world and we owe to them, the best we can give them. We owe them an education and a chance to grow up in the world to make their own decisions and a chance to the best life they can have. The children are our future. They are what is important. We need to make a difference for them. They are who will be making a difference for all of us in the future. Their future affects our future! We've all discussed the problems. So if we could allow Mr. Collins to get on with his life and honor him with getting something done about the actual problems at the school, I think that would be the start of doing something positive.

Right now, we have the election to get thru this coming week. Let's all get out there and make our votes count. You've seen what becomes of a lazy community. We've slept and allowed others to run our school ineffectively, so get out there and vote!

After that, let's demand an answer on what has happened with Mr. Bessendorfer. What he has allegedly done, is against the law and he needs to be held accountable if there is any semblance of guilt. If he has done something against the law, then he should never have been given any option other than that of termination. He should have been fired and it should have followed him for the rest of his life, just as what he has allegedly done will follow the young ladies for the rest of their lives. There has to be justice done in this case. Otherwise, if he is guilty, then he has just been given walking papers to go to another school district and harass other female students.

There has to be someone reading this who knows the legalities of what is going on here. The other day, someone posted that our school has broken laws by NOT turning this over to the proper authorities. We must demand to know why our superintendent did not turn this over to law enforcement officials. By not doing so, I would think she would have broken the laws or at the very least, did not allow the girls reporting these alleged incidents their civil rights. Is that incorrect? I cannot imagine if a teacher had sexually harassed my child. The parents have to be mortified. Why are we not hearing about this? All we know is he quit. End of story. NOT! We cannot allow it to be the end of the story. If Mr. Bessendorfer is guilty, then his records need to reflect that and he needs to be punished. If Mr. Bessendorfer is guilty, then that means his wife is guilty of covering up what he has done. If she is guilty of this, I would think as a mom, herself, her conscience should bother her. She has lost the respect of the community and we do not have faith in her. It makes me wonder what else has been covered up in the name of love or what ever you want to call it.

For those of you who think Mr. Collins was such a bad person, weigh what the Bessendorfers have done compared to using dirty words. While none of that is OK or right, I believe sexual harassment to our youth and covering it up is criminal. It is not just "not OK", it is criminal. It is wrong.

For reporters reading this, why are you not finding out what is going on? Isn't that your job? We want to know. The school board and superintendent think by allowing Mr. Bessendorfer the option to resign, that this will drop. We won’t let that happen until we know the story. By them handling this the way they have, it leaves it open with suspicions of guilt hanging around, festering. WE need to put closure to this and know we are sending our kids to a safe haven where they can just be kids and not have “grown up” worries.

School board, we are coming out of the closet. We're here and we're a thorn in you rear until things change. We will not back down and we demand loud and clear to be heard and for what we have to say to make a difference. Things will not go back to the way they were. We expect for you to communicate with us and to allow the teachers a way to communicate to you also without the feeling of being hung at the gallows. WE expect to be treated with respect whether we agree with you or not. When we speak to you, it is something of importance to us or to our children and we expect you to treat what we have to say with the utmost interest. When we have the floor, we do expect you to listen and not roll your eyes at what we have to say. If you treat us with respect, we will always treat you with the same respect. We do not expect to always understand what is going on but we do expect for you to help us understand. We are not asking for changes. We are demanding them.

Sharon: You hit the nail on the head more than once. Grousing is one thing; taking action is another - and we all need to act now and vote Tuesday. We have had it with inexperience; now is time for experience... Crosby may be a nice enough person but she has no experience. Eby may be a nice person but he has limited experience and we can expect that he will get his marching orders from those who employ him. The only ones with QUALIFIED experience are EARL JOHNSON, AL MORTON AND KEITH LAMB. Each will bring his own varied EXPERIENCE to the table.

The current school board is an embarrassment and should be ashamed with what their lack of good judgment and common sense have cost this community. They must be held accountable as should Ms Bessendorfer. Jennifer Busen should be ashamed and embarrassed with the comments she made to the Springfield newspaper. Jennifer, please do us all a huge favor and resign from the school board. Sooner is better. Since you believe our students don't know the difference between their good teachers - teachers who really do teach - and teachers who just show up daily and do enough to get by, you have no business representing the students at Reeds Spring Schools nor this community. Your comments were a slap in the face to the majority of our student population and to every real teacher we have.

That Reeds Spring Schools can justify paying a teachers aide only $5.85 per hour (expecting any aide who fills this position to have 60 college credit hours), yet can afford $200,000 for a football field is example enough that something is very wrong.

I am not a teacher but I am a parent of Reeds Spring graduates. I live here, I work here and I CARE about the quality of education in our district.

It's time to place the focus on education: quality education with quality instructors and facilities. We can do this with a quality school board. It's time to put an end to voting name recognition only. PLEASE VOTE for EARL JOHNSON, AL MORTON and KEITH LAMB to return integrity and some basic common sense to Reeds Spring Schools.

$5.85 an hour to a teachers' aide? You have to be kidding? $5.85!!!! Do they give food stamps with that?!!! How incredibly horrible to be paying good people such a lowly sum when the school board just freely gave the incompetent superintendent a raise that is almost the same amount as the teacher's aide's annual salary if the teacher's aide worked full time. Most, probably are not considered full-time and probably don't receive benefits such as insurance, etc. ($5.85 an hour is $234 per week BEFORE taxes are taken out. $5.85 an hour is $12,168 per year if you work 40 hours and are paid for 52 weeks!)

Can you believe $5.85 an hour! You could make more than that at Walmart or McDonalds and not have to wear wading boots to work (from all the BS you have to step in at school, it has to be at least knee-deep). Look at all the germs the teachers get from all the little kids blowing snot all year long. And the school board said they were waiting to give raises to the staff so they could see if the school’s health insurance was going up? I about died when I heard that crock of sheep duke! You pay your teachers and staff so badly, why don’t you figure out funding for their insurance and call it an actual benefit?

You know what $5.85 an hour says? It says, "Bite me!". That is exactly what the school board is telling you. They are telling you that you don't count!! You are qualified to work with the most important people in the world and asked to make a difference....you work with our children!! You work with our future and you are paid $5.85 an hour???? School board, how about not only rescinding "Queen B's" new and improved salary, but how about lowering it? You hired an inexperienced superintendent and gave her a salary of amazing proportions for her experience, once again proving to the community that you have no business handling our monies!!! PLEASE do not come to us asking for yet another tax increase EVER AGAIN. What is wrong with you people? Are you morons? Do you not have a conscience? $5.85 an hour to work with our children and put up with all the crap they have to just to work at the school. Unreal, unheard of and a slap in the face when you chose to give good old Angie a raise without a thought to the people who actually do the work and make the school run. I have been expecting to see a mass Exodus in Biblical proportions at the school any day now and see picket lines from here to Branson West. Now I know why you haven’t done that. Has nothing to do with being loyal to the school or our kids……the fact is, on such meager salaries, you can’t afford to buy the picket signs!!!

School board, I have heard about some of the programs you want to cut. How about actually getting in there and figuring out a plan on NOT cutting the programs? It's so easy to say, "We cannot afford this, so let's cut it.", instead of actually finding a way to fund it. Is that because finding funding would require work? How about Angie getting off her duff and actually doing something for that amazing little salary she earns? Anyone been able to approach her here lately during "The Fiasco"? I'm sure she has some personal problems she needs to take care of, but guess what, when it is time to work, she needs to leave that stuff at the door and get to work. I’d really like to know what she actually does for that salary?

How the school board or Angie can sleep at night is beyond me. How can they go to bed knowing they have made decisions such as paying someone qualified enough to work with out children a mere $5.85 an hour while they are throwing money out the window to Angie and for what? For her to lock herself up in her office? She's not even a good administrator. Someone said you would have us in bankruptcy before this is all over. I, for one, will not be surprised. My only surprise after the things I find out is why has it taken this long?

As you can tell, I am overwhelmed knowing we are paying good people a mere $5.85 an hour, which only increases my “amazement” at the school board’s decision to give Angie a raise. Can you imagine how far her raise would have gone if it was split between some of these well-deserving employees of the school? Wouldn’t that have been nice for someone to actually take a notice of the people who actually are working hard and say, “We appreciate you and here is a nice raise.” I think of the people in the background who make such a difference in our kids. The janitors, the cooks, the bus drivers, the teachers’ aides, the gals in the offices….all go unnoticed but yet they make such a difference in these kids’ lives and the school couldn’t operate without them. The people who make our school run like it should are the “Kirby Hedrick’s”, the “Dave Manning’s”, the “Charlene Grave’s”, the “Miss Shirley’s”, the “Miss Gina’s”, the “Miss Robin’s”, the nurses like “Nurse Paula”, etc. If they weren’t there, the school would not run. These people aren’t paid massive salaries. They are there to make a difference in our kids. Ask the kids about them. If asked who their favorite people at school are or have been, I bet one of those names or a lot of those names will come up. Kirby Hedrick is no longer there (and I’m sure he is thankful), but for years, he was a wonderful bus driver and janitor who the kids adored! Look at Mr. Dave, Charlene Graves, Shirley West, Gina Reed, Robin Yocom….and the list goes on and on. While these people are not teachers, they make probably as much or a bigger contribution to the lives and the molding of the lives of our children. Ask the kids. They will tell you. That kind of service and love for our kids should not only be commended, but awarded at least at raise time. Their salaries should not be a slap in the face. They should be awarded salaries that are the envy of all school districts. Our staff turn-over should be in percentages so low that we can’t measure them. You see, Reeds Spring should be the richest smaller school district around. The ratio of tax-payers who do not have children in our school to the number of tax-payers who do have children in our school is amazing. We are in a retirement area with expensive houses with expensive taxes, much of that going to the Reeds Spring School District. So, when the school board and superintendent say, “We can’t afford this. We can’t pay our teachers and staff what they are worth. We need to trash this program because we can’t afford it.”, what they are really saying is, “We don’t know how to manage the monies that you, as tax-paying citizens of our school district have entrusted us with. Not only that, we are lazy and we would rather not look for funding elsewhere. We are aware there are grants out there to be applied for, but we’re too lazy to look for that free money.”

If this school board hired a few people to do nothing but file for grants, you would be amazed at the money that is out there. Gerald Jenkins’ handout said, “Items such as books cannot be bought with bond money, but are funded with federal, state and largely local taxes.” I cannot believed there is not grant money out there to buy books with if the homework is done. I don’t think the school board seems to be worried because Gerald Jenkins’ re-election handout also said, “…with our current levy of $3.76, we have a 20% fund balance so a tax levy increase is not needed at this time.” Then why are they trying to cut projects such as the “R Project”? And why aren’t there enough books to go around?

I have another little tidbit for the school board. When you schedule your meetings, how about eating before you show up? There is no reason you are given a big feast for every meeting. Eat before you show up and bring your own drinks. When you start cutting costs, you might just start with yourselves first. If we are short on funds for anything to do with our kids, then you should set a good impression and forego the food.

Actually, the 5.85/hr was paid to an aide for special needs children - who loved her - and she loved her work, attending college nights & during the summer to earn a 4 yr degree in special ed. When she asked the board for a raise, she was told they could give her a .05 / hr increase: yes, that's five cents per hour. She now works as a secretary earning over $12 per hour; she had no choice, she has to pay for her education. This aide's .05 / hr increase was granted in January or February 2007, I'm not certain as to which month; but the current board made this determination. Yet we have monies to increase the superintendent's salary, we had monies for a football practice field and now there is talk of a constructing or finding space for a special wrestling room. I love high school and college wrestling but this seems inappropriate at this time. My fear is a vote for Crosby or Eby will continue this downward spiral with even less focus on education and a continued focus on activities which do not better benefit the entire school population.

We need board members who will stand up to this kind of nonsense, who won't be afraid to speak their minds and who will place their first focus in the classroom where it belongs. This is a public school supported with public monies, after all. We cannot prepare our graduates for continued education at the college level without quality instructors and facilities. We need a board who will stand behind our teachers / staff, a board who understands what it takes to achieve goals in education. Again, EARL JOHNSON, AL MORTON and KEITH LAMB will get my vote. I trust them to deliver.

Please make an effort this evening or early tomorrow to remind at least one acquaintance, one person you may know either well or vaguely, to vote AL MORTON, KEITH LAMB and EARL JOHNSON for seats on the Reeds Spring School Board. We must make a positive change as well as send a resounding message that a change in leadership is needed. These three individuals will put this school district back on track.

Remember, Jenkins (board pres) stated at the forum in Kimberling City that he is proud of the direction Reeds Spring Schools has been taken with his "leadership." We all know where he has led us and it isn't down a pretty garden path. Tucker-Weist and Hustead, have been right behind him, all knee-deep in weeds.

We need intelligent leadership. We need experienced leadership. Morton, Lamb and Johnson surely will head this district in a better direction.